Private Antics, Major Problems

Private Antics, Major Problems (1-20)

Written by: Scott Peterson

Storyboard by: Zac Moncrief

Directed by: Timothy Björklund

Date of airing: October 2th 2004

Synopsis: After thumped an ant colony by her feet, Brandy is forced to join the Ant Headquarters army, while Mr. Whiskers shown her (and to the audience) the flashback of everything happening before to be on assignment for stop a herd of aardvarks (Ant-eaters) who would attack and sallow them.

P.S.: In the moment you tent to read this article, let me remind you a thing-- I haven't known anything about the "Brandy & Mr. Whiskers" 11-minutes segments before I tent to reviewing these. I haven't fully watched the show in years, but instead of the original english voice-cast, all I do remembered from the series was from the 2008s YouTube featuring the Spanish-dubbing cast version of the show. And albeit the series was finally remastered in HD and that did looked out better than before, the presentation was another victim of the rampant "Photoshopped" titles, those that are typical from most foreign newer prints of past shows like the way in 2020, a Post-production house has remastered the remaining of the Warner Bros. cartoons library with such dreaded results like this. For the need of this blog, we're fully compelling the show with the older, Standard version of the series, like the way it was originally created and made by what we have to do. Thank you!

This is the final cartoon title from the first half of Season 1. What a relief to finishing it although the remaining of the show going to be the most harder to watch for years to come.

The short begins with a asleep Brandy in mission and Mr. Whiskers be took seriously his assignment to keep away from aardvarks. He spotted a strange thing in the bushes until it come just... a mere pig!

To figure how they were in army suits would be explained by a flashback about the events that predated the times the duo been recruited by a very authoritative ant leader with sheer sunglasses and his colony of armed forces ants. Though there's some logical about that thing, this is no match with the better and more enjoyable Freleng's Elmer Fudd solo short Ant Pasted, where on a patriotic fashion, the ants had took revenge of Elmer after he blowing them up with firecrackers in hope to celebrate July 4th.

But instead, the whole plot is a lazy retread of the Ren & Stimpy Show episode "In the Army". When Whiskers shown her by a remote control how all this have beginning, we start to get a point that the unpredictable pair are no part of Amazon Rainforest survivalists, but TV actors in this. It would be a pattern that went getting back from time to time and notably in the very erratic McIntyre-directed segments.

The flashback begins when Brandy and Whiskers discovered a rare papaye fruit hatched in the tree. The pair would like to taste it but as usual, the blonde-canine girl using Whiskers ears for catch it, by a long series of sadistical pains to the rabbit, which it's not that funny in nature. Even not in 2004s Television anymore.

When finally, Brandy grab the fruit after a series of mishaps, she ate the papaye and went awfully disgusted to it, by even vomiting to Mr. Whiskers' face. It's just moronic and typically gross, but not with the same kind of memorable humorous touch that others comedy-buddies shows like The Ren & Stimpy Show, Animanaics or Rocko's Modern Life have offered. Instead, it become a carbon copy of The Sylvester & Tweety Mysteries, when Sylvester keep to be abused on any cornered way even if he's not deserved. Not sure that Friz Freleng (It's reason why the TV series was made: At a memoriam for his passing in 1995) would enjoying it if he was still alive to this point.

Someone seems to loved this sequence if it was featuring in clip on a old spanish Disney Channel TV Promo ad. Sure, YouTube may have still that available.

But a faux-pas from Brandy, by thumped an ant headquarters hole is there that wound such consequences for the blonde canine girl, and for once, Brandy deserved all these pains for the "bitch" she still is to the Amazon Rainforest wild animals. If Brandy and Whiskers would be humans characters instead to be dog and rabbit, not sure that it would change anything. Because the headquarters would going to take vengeance of her as soon as they will.

In the morning, the ants colony took charge of the Treehouse by remvoing completely the roof, err we mean, the raft of their home for vengeance. The overall episode's theme is about teaching discipline and for once, Brandy gotten the biggest pains for all her faults, by even shredded the ceiling of the treehouse when she standing there.

One of the most funniest parts of this title. No need to ask why.

Now parts of the troop, Brandy and Whiskers are determinated to get ready for their training at official members of the Ants Headquarters colony. The flashback is not done yet that even Brandy is breaking the 4th wall when she speaks to herself in the bottom of the sequence. And then, comes their training that annoys Brandy a lot but that made Mr. Whiskers all the most positive when he took his position of the colony very seriously. Like when he babysit Mama Croc's eggs on The Baby Sitter's Flub, even in vain. In these, it improved when the former cartoon wouldn't. That is a real improvement.

In there, it started to become like another talkier Disney Channel sitcom that was shown at that time. The interaction of the pair in these scenes started to wearing after a while, it's probably one of the only episodes that utilizing it. Seen characters breaking the 4th wall a la Garfield have quickly stop to be original or funny by the Post-9/11 shootings and when all the world of entertainment demanded a change of mentality in the industry. There, it's turning ten-fifteen years backwards instead to made known what the 2004s youths wanna seen in an animated cartoon like this. There wasn't any reference to Looney Tunes or the rubber-hose Fleischer style for once, so that is what we all want to know.

Scott Peterson having the very difficult task to make a compelling story by this one, but to his credit, it's a much minor improvement to the pretty dull Dear Diary airing the previous week before the half-hour that have this short.

Now that the flashback is over, Mr. Whiskers is still panicked to guard for the aardvarks who going to menacing the headquarters. Brandy finally put this job by herself by be very kind to these, by even mention about ate vegetables instead of living creatures. That is something that would never happening on a Looney Tunes short involving ants or a Ren & Stimpy plot on the Front Lines.

The general have all seen it. He was very grateful to Brandy's position to do her job and her more than proud to be part of the colony, but like all endings, it sadly ended with a call-back one: Brandy and Whiskers thumped again the general by singing the military song hearing minutes ago. Whiskers even pull his Victory sign before they've quit the sequence.

Ouch! This is enough, folks, I imagine!

Critique

Generally entertaining episode about seen the pair in the Army of Ants Headquarters and for once, the plot moved on naturally despite the over-reliance of Brandy and Whiskers breaking the 4th wall when the flashback featuring how they were drafted before to be part on the mission to stop aardvarks. The ant general is very fearsome, but he shown all its more manic attitude to Brandy by taking his position of leader very seriously. It's the second episode in where Scott Peterson was credited at writer since Dear Diary and he became more comfortable to working with the leads without all the shenanigans and madcap violence involving to Whiskers makes all the heaviest-lifting. The flashback sequences however, worked out well, but such of a comedic plot will soon tarnish the spirit of what made the TV animated series special to fans at first place, while they started to became TV actors as opposed to actual Amazon Rainforest survivalists. (The same pattern would lingered all the problematics on future productions like Mini Whiksers, Payback and a couple of Season 2 episodes) When the aardvarks herd really came out, it ended not with an angry and pissed Brandy of course, but a gentle recruit who would suggests the herd such vegetables instead of living creatures like ants. It's a message of resilience that still works without to be too lecturing. The episode ended like it have all started, when Brandy (and Whiskers too!) flattened the general lead when the reason why she was came out was because she thumped by her feet the ants headquarters colony hole. If there is another worthy thing to says, this is the final segment to be part of the half-hours that were originally ready to be seen on the American's Disney Channel in the first weeks of its introduction, when the remaining of Season 1 have to wait one long year before to be all airing when ironically, it was already playing right ahead on any locales Disney Channels around the world.